A Story Of Three
by chanachan
Summary: A threepiece collection of events, based upon Obito, Rin and Kakashi: their relationships, needs and expectations. Chapter One: Obito's Effort


**Chapter One**  
_Obito's Effort_

LOG (07/06): Wrote this fic for JuliTina- because I wanted to (and owed her one XD). Hope you like it, my sweet! A three-piece collection of events, based upon Obito, Rin and Kakashi (from the Kakashi Gaiden chapters of the manga). Contains slightprofanity- nothing major, yo.

* * *

Uchiha Obito sat on the toilet, with his head pushed back and his mind drowning in some bottomless sleep- a position that he had maintained, with ease, for the past hour. This was not how he had planned it, the night before. Then again, Obito never really did _plan _anything; things just seemed to happen with a spontaneous call from actuality.

He was not somebody who could adjust himself to change, or even a routine that had been forced upon him ever since the day he got in to the village's ninja academy. In the past, his mother had insisted that he was to be home schooled, a system that assured her Obito's safety amongst strong and noble Uchiha shinobi, whilst enduring the time of war. Everyone always assumed that it was her extensive pampering that resulted in his lethargy and lack of motivation, but only Obito knew it was because he wanted the juicy missions, not the 'how to's and 'you must's. The only time he would jump was when it suited him best.

Today was different, however. Today had nothing to do with chasing cats, milking cows and washing the monuments carved in to the mountain of Konoha (because Sandaime-sama, being Hokage and all, enjoyed amusing himself, every now and then, especially when it involved indolent Genin that often slacked off). Today was the _real deal_, for the reason that a bunch of anonymous fools decided to attack Konoha and failed, which meant that Obito, Rin, Kakashi and the future Yondaime were to be sent on an investigative mission, bound to be packed with Action and Adventure.

"Obito." A loud knock on the bathroom door pursued. "Obito. Obito! _Obito_!"

Obito's eyes opened, immediately, which was followed by a slight headache, which was quite similar to the sensation of a brain-freeze. "Y-yeah! I'm awake, I'm awake!"

"You're late! Hurry up and get out!" His younger brother, irritatingly, continued to knock on the door a few more times before he silenced and wondered off.

The recently appointed Genin forced himself up and wiped away the dry flakes from the side of his mouth; he hated it when he drooled. "Yeah, yeah… I'm awake…" he echoed.

_And late!_

At long last, he had realised the time of day (or, rather, afternoon) it was and where he was meant to be. "They're gonna kill me!" he exclaimed and then, hastily, made his way towards his room, with his bare feet pounding on the cold, wooden floor.

A quarter of the way to where his team were waiting, Obito stopped, turned on his heal and sprinted back to his house. "What are you doing?" asked his mother, sliding the door shut behind him. He ignored her and ran to his room, soon to frantically search around the mess of clothes that coated his floor like a creased blanket. His mother continued to watch him, confused and slightly irritated. "Obito! How am I going to clean your room if you're making it worse?"

"Not now, Kaa-chan!"

"What on _earth_ are you looking for?"

"My goggles! I can't find my goggles!"

"They're right there, on your bed." Obito cursed himself, wiped off the random piece of food stuck on the screen and ran back out of the room.

* * *

Team Yellow Flash (as they later would have been known by), or, more exactly, Kakashi, Rin and their teacher, sat on the bench with tranquil expressions. If a common villager had passed by, he or she would have been unable to sense the lethal intent that seeped out from one of the ninja, simply smile and walk away. Rin and her sensei, surprisingly enough, were quite patient, whereas Kakashi seemed as if he was ready to pounce on the first sign of life.

The first sign of Uchiha Obito, that is.

"It's such a nice day, today, eh?" the brown-haired girl said, trying to lighten Kakashi's mood- something that was far too tenacious- even though it was two hours too late. "He'll be here, soon…" Neither of the two males replied and continued to sit, in silence.

And she had predicted correctly, though Kakashi had noticed, beforehand. "The _Uchiha _is here."

Feeling Kakashi's glare from just thirty feet away, Obito pondered whether it would have been a good idea not to hurry. But, then again, every second that he was late, Kakashi would have added to the amount of insults owed.

"You're _late_. What's wrong with you? Are you too stupid to look at a clock?"

"It's not my fault. This little kid was being forced to lift all these boxes by his evil father... I help him shift some of them, 'cause he was so small... and... and _helpless_! You should have seen his fa-"

"That's pathetic! _You're _pathetic!"

"What! Shut up!"

"As a shinobi, you have to be dedicated and follow the way of the ninja, Obito." Kakashi raised his nose, a hunter unable to find worthiness in his prey. "Obviously, you're not capable of that, which means-"

"I don't care what it means!"

"You _should _care and you _should _be the shinobi that you've sworn to be."

At long last, the duo's argument was interrupted by their sensei, who seemed amused at Obito's story-telling ability, though it was nothing out of the ordinary. "Drop your handbags, you two. You're beginning to act like a married couple."

"It's _him _you need to sort out, Sensei," Kakashi replied, though it could have easily passed off as an order. "All he ever does is wake up late, slack off during missions and make us all fall behind. He has no respect for the rules and regulations of the Konoha shinobi, or-"

"Shut up about the rules and regulations, for once! I don't live to my life make _you _happy!"

The remaining member of the team, a silent observer of Obito and Kakashi's perpetual bickering, finally spoke up after finding an opening. "Let's just forget about it," she suggested. "We better move on to our mission, yeah?"

"She's right. You two should listen to her more often." Rin blushed at the compliment of her teacher and presented an inaudible 'thank you'. "Come on; let's move on."

_Finally_. It was the time that Obito had been waiting for ever since he could remember; _the_ mission that was going to prove that he was just as worthy a ninja as Hatake Kakashi.

Their sensei took them towards the front gates of Konoha, where they began to make their way out, at a steady pace. And, as expected, Obito had questions, questions that needed not to be answered if he had listened, in advance. "Why are we walking?"

"Eh?"

"At this rate, we're not gonna have a mission to take care of!"

Kakashi snorted. "And whose fault is that?"

Obito stopped to put the prescribed drops of medicine in to his eyes, removing his goggles for only a short moment. "Shut up. I never asked you."

"Obito…"

"Come on, Rin! Even you can't say that he's not being a spoiled brat." Obito noticed Kakashi glance at Rin, as if he was expecting her to, naturally, take his side. "Besides-"

"'Besides' nothing. Try to get along until we get to the village. If you can't do that, then don't talk for the entire journey, 'kay? And as for your question, Obito, you should have been listening, yesterday, when I explained everything to you."

"Of course he wasn't listening." Obito glared at Kakashi, even though he knew that he was right. This time, the son of the legendary White Fang was disciplined.

The Yondaime sighed and adjusted his backpack. "We have no reason to hurry, Obito. Sandaime-sama has a good reason to believe who it is, so he assigned us a few missions from that village, so we have a motive to stay there for a while, without being hassled."

"When do we get to fight the enemy, then?"

"We don't, you idiot. It's an investigation; not a war."

"What! So, all we get to do is ask people stupid questions?"

"You shouldn't take such a tone with things that can matter to the village, Obito."

Obito lowered his head, feeling slightly embarrassed, knowing it was true; it was up to him (and his team, of course) to help prevent any possible attacks on Konoha in the future, and taking it lightly would hardly get them anywhere. "Sensei's right," Kakashi added. "As boring as it sounds, missions like these require skill, time and patience. It's our jobto help the village, even if it's in the long run."

The future Yondaime stopped in his tracks, turning his back on the sun's sharp rays. "You may be right, Kakashi, but that doesn't mean you should look down at your own team-mates." He smiled to show that he knew very well about what he was talking. "You never know, Obito could be put in a position where he saves your live and I don't think he'd do that if you're patronising him, all the time."

Obito heard Kakashi make a noise that was quite similar to a pig's snort (okay, so Obito _pretended _that those two sounds were similar, simply to be spiteful). He, including the others, was well aware that something like that would never happen; yet, he could not help but dream of the day that Kakashi would be powerless, looking towards him for aid, or when he would make a mistake and only Obito could correct it.

"So…" Obito began, trying to remove the topic out of everyone's minds. "That means there won't be any action on this mission?"

The Yondaime chuckled and continued to walk on, with the others following. "Oh, there'll be action, but only if we get caught, so don't be _you_ when we get there. But, for all we know, the enemy have probably arranged something for us, when we get there. We're not in the heaven of Konoha, anymore."

Walking on to the enemy's turf was just as seductive as a rat at the edge of the nest of a cobra and her younglings. Even so, their teacher was able to conduct himself in a manner that they all admired dearly; calm, attentive and positive. Even though this was Obito's first important mission, he had heard tales. Tales that spoke of the to-be Yondaime's greatness and capability. It was as cheesy as from travelling miles across scorching deserts to rescuing innocents from the tip of a mountain. Even so, Uchiha Obito wanted to be _just _like him when he would become Hokage. His mind was set on it.

An hour in to their journey and Obito was becoming restless; he had never travelled so far away from Konoha, before and was often putting drops in his eyes to relieve his boredom, slightly, giving him something to look forward to. Everyone else, however, seemed as if they did this on a daily basis- not speaking a word and almost not showing signs of weariness. They were probably used to it since they had to do it every morning, Obito thought, applying it to his habit of being late.

In time, he fell back so to walk with Rin. "When we take a break, we can put a few rocks in Kakashi's bags to make them heavy, if you want."

Rin smiled at his idea, though would have never done such a thing; Obito knew it, but only wanted to make small talk. "No, it's okay," she replied, kindly. "It's not fair on him."

Before Obito could try to persuade her, Kakashi and their sensei stopped in their tracks. "You noticed, too," the blonde-haired man asked his student, who nodded in reply.

"What- _ow_! Watch where you're going!" Obito wondered why Kakashi's expression was so stern, but even Rin's had changed from amused to panicky. It did not take him a second longer to realise why.

He did not ask what to do and simply waited for his teacher to instruct him to move away, but nothing came. Instead, Obito watched him swiftly throw a number of shuriken in random directions, exposing a number of unidentifiable ninja.

"Rin! Obito! Be alert!" he ordered, since the two were too stunned to react (he needed not to even think about Kakashi, who was already heading towards an enemy).

"You two! Don't just standthere!"

Obito's eyes drifted away from his Jounin teacher and his other team-mates and his focus fixated on to the number of enemies that surrounded them. His body began to act on its own and picked up a rock, which was by his feet, and threw it at somebody who was heading towards Rin, only to fail. The next thing he knew, a yellow flash appeared before his eyes, blinding him.

_What was that...?_

_

* * *

_"It's no use," somebody's voice echoed. "You're not going to talk, are ya'?"

Nothing was making sense to Obito. At first, his mind was trying to realise his sense of existence, which moved on to what had happened- he could have sworn that they were, just now, walking, so why was his sensei was pushing somebody's face in to the ground?

"Wh… what happened?" he mumbled, trying his best to sit up straight on the damp log that he was, uncomfortably, lying on.

"Finally awake, eh?" The sarcastic tone of voice loitered around in his mind for a while, until it had cast itself out. "Did you have a nice dream?"

"Wh… what?"

"Do you _know _what you've just done?"

At long last, everything began to seem clear. The attack, being told to stay alert, trying to help Rin.

_Rin!_

Kakashi's eyes pierced through his thoughts, fiercely, and it worried Obito for it was the first time he had seen him so livid. "You really _are _useless! If you can't defend yourself, then why the fuck are you even _trying _to be a shinobi? This isn't a game, where you throw rocks for fun!"

"Rin... Is Rin all right?"

"If you weren't ready for this mission, then why the hell did you bother to come? A _real _shinobi must _always _be prepared and alert. Don't you know _anything_?"

"Shut the hell up and tell me where Rin is!" A familiar brunette appeared from behind a tree, before them, seeming rather unnerved. "Rin!" Obito cried out; he wanted to get up and go to her, but his legs defied him, seeming as if they weighed twice as much as he did. "Rin! Are you okay?"

She nodded but did not look at either of them; her eyes seemed as if they had caught something much more alluring, on the ground. "How are you feeling?" she quietly enquired.

"I'm…" he gaped at her, hesitant of how to reply. "Oh, I'm fine! No need to worry about me! Just felt a little sleepy, s'all."

"_Sleepy_? When the hell will you grow up and behave like an actual shinobi instead of a cry-baby?"

"Shut up! Why the hell do you always have to act as if you're better than me?"

"That's because I _am_."

Rin plucked the nerve to move towards them with a habitual, slight smile on her face, though the extent of its falseness did not fool anyone. "Come on, guys. Everyone's all right, so there's no need to fight, yeah?"

"You're just as bad as him, Rin," Kakashi said, gazing at her. "What's worse than a loud-mouth is a mouth that doesn't work at all. I thought you were better than that."

The look on Rin's face did not need to justify to Obito how she felt; he could sense her sorrow from where he was sitting. Kakashi had gone too far- they all knew how Rin could take things to heart, sometimes, and using that against her, a friend that would always be by his side, was appalling.

"That's _enough_, Kakashi! No matter what happened, you have no right to talk to your team like that. The same goes to you, Obito- if you're not going to be attentive and take things seriously, then you'll only end up dead. All of you need to stop acting like children." It was rare for their teacher to scold them, but when he did, he expressed vast disappointment in his voice rather than fury (which all three of them felt would have been better; nothing could sting more than the pain of dissatisfaction).

The Yondaime kneeled on the ground and turned to face the ninja he had freshly caught. "Come over here."

He ordered and they obeyed; this was the current world of Obito, from which he was so eager to escape. Without a doubt, he worshiped the ground his sensei walked on, but, just as easily as the wind danced and water flowed, the young boy resented him, at times. Obito could tell himself a number of reasons as to why, but he knew that it was mostly to do with the bond that his teacher and Kakashi shared- power, courage and strength.

It was not fair; was that the only way _not _to feel excluded? To be a genius with potential?

They moved to where the only surviving assailant was, in the hands of one of the strongest shinobi of Konoha. Obito found this strenuous, but he refused to give Kakashi another excuse to ridicule him and put his ego aside in order to let Rin aid him. Everyone assumed that neither of them had the same potency as that of a Jounin, since their feeble strategy of attack had them defeated in just over an instant.

"Aren't you going to speak, then?"

Obito opened his mouth to say something, until he realised that he was not being addressed. Thoughts of why the enemy was not being treated rightfully- as he would most likely not utter a single word, if beaten- loitered through his mind, but the young boy dared not to challenge the motives of the future Yondaime.

The detained foe soon ceased fidgeting and his eyes, which were seconds ago drowning in fear, remained open, robbed of any indication of life.

"He's dead…" Rin whispered, beating everyone to it.

"W-what…?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Tch. He bit his tongue, the bastard. Didn't even give us much of a chance to interrogate him."

"Can't do anything about that, now. We'll reach our destination without mentioning anything of an attack- if they ask, we can just say that we were ambushed, but they seemed like a gang of petty thieves, dressed as unidentifiable ninja, so we didn't bother to look in to it. Konoha has many enemies, so it wouldn't be a surprise if we were attacked, out of the blue. This way, the enemy won't assume that we have an idea of who it may be, or that we know it was them.

"We better--" he hesitated for a moment, thinking it was best to approach the situation in a tender way- even without looking, he could tell that two of his students were not used to this. "We better get rid of this mess and move on." Perhaps it was far from the best way to tell them to clear up a gory butchery, but it had to be done.

Nobody even thought about dissenting and began to help him place the mutilated bodies behind the bushes, jacketing them up with whatever they could find. Obito's stomach may as well have been cut out and thrown away, since it was almost certainly parallel to how he was feeling. Until then, he had not perceived the amount of blood-coated corpses around him- maybe that was why Rin kept on looking away from them, her face drained of all natural colour.

He did it with his eyes glancing elsewhere. Obito did not have the heart to see what limb and organ his dead body was missing and tried to think of the mission, purely to take his mind off the horrendous scene- though the unpleasant stench of slight decay made it hard for him to concentrate. How long had he actually passed out for?

Carrying a carcass was even worse than observing them lying on the ground, as if they had nothing better to do. The best Obito and Rin could do was to drag them, leaving a long, messy trail of red, following; it did not matter, compared to everything else around, a bit of blood was not worth fretting over.

Kakashi and the future Yondaime, effortlessly, disposed of them, as if it was something they had grown up to do (they probably had, bearing in mind their history, he supposed). Yet, Obito could not help but feel slight disgust and loathe towards the two; it was as if they had no reason to be ashamed of what they had done… what they would continue to do, until the day they die.

Thankfully, Rin was just as sickened as he was while trying to move away the man their sensei had questioned, which meant that Obito was not the only one. He smiled to himself as he noticed a wet patch around the man's trousers- it seemed as if he had emptied himself just before he died. A few seconds on and he removed the grin with the assistance of guilt.

And, just then, it dawned on him. This is what shinobi did- no matter where they were from. This is what _he _was required to do. To mutilate, slay and then dispose if it was not enough.

Obito retched but did not relieve the contents of his stomach, as there was nothing to let go of, fortunately. Once again, he scrutinized the greenery, which was now, contentedly, draped in layers of blood (he wondered how they would wash it away in time, but the future Yondaime had that covered, too), holding back mournful tears.

They had crushed the enemy, taking away their lives, dreams and freedom. No, these ninja were _not _the enemy- they were not the ones who decided that it was time to cause strife. All they did was follow orders to help support and shield their own village, just like Obito and his team.

What if there was somebody amongst them that had a mother like his, who would be waiting for her son to return home just so she could spoil him rotten? What if one of them had friends and a family that they were desperate to protect and were even willing to do anything that their village asked for?

_What if Rin was one of them?_

If _this_ was 'the way of the ninja' that Kakashi worshiped and reverenced so much, then Obito was going to find a way to change it.

* * *

"You found me…"

"Yep."

Rin's eyes casually searched the late afternoon sky that was a mixture of purple and blue, as if somebody had accidentally spilled ink around the sun; an observation she usually made, when expressing 'alone time'.

"How?"

"It was an accident," he lied, poorly, and she knew this. Obito was never one to hold back the truth, skilfully, but that did not mean he would stop trying.

Without asking, the young Genin sat himself on to the boulder, beside Rin. Even if there were a way to express that his presence was far from wanted, she would have had neither the heart nor words. Every now and then, Obito would show traits that irritated her, but they were simply shrugged off. She refused to let _her _team slip through her fingers; after all, they were the ones who knew her best, now, and they were the ones that would be her friends until the end.

"You know," he said at the top of his voice whilst keeping up with her focus on the stars that were beginning to peep out from behind the waning clouds. "Everyone's been looking for you."

"'Everyone'?"

"Well, Sensei has."

_Liar_. Obito wondered if he was _that _exasperatingly transparent. Sometimes, he wondered whether Rin was like everybody else, hoping that he would find some intellectual understanding that would make him a better person, just like Kakashi. Of course, he never would have brought it up, in fear of it being true and him being offended.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"It's just that… you didn't say a single word after… y'know… And you walked off without letting any of us know."

"I told Kakashi. I just came out for a walk and fresh air; I could still smell blood from Sensei's clothes… That's kinda stupid, though, 'cause I can smell it from mine, too…"

If someone wore make-up and called themselves a clown, it did not mean that they would be laughing for the rest of the while they were not behind that mask. Obito may have acted like a clown a lot of the time but he was not a fool who only knew how to laugh.

Right then, he felt hurt for Rin and anger for not being able to take it away. The young Uchiha would have given anything to gain the strength to break Kakashi in half- or, at least his arms and legs, which would have been enough to penetrate his emotion of frustration. Maybe then, the silver-haired boy would have understood how it felt to torment somebody for the sake of being better.

"Don't you ever feel that you've been waiting a long time to get close to something, but even if you're only an inch away, it feels as if you're a lifetime apart?"

It was corny, far too much for both of their tastes, but he understood what she was talking about… Or, rather _who_. "Yeah," he replied, softly. "I do…" He stared at his lap, trying to find something to scratch at with his eyes. A fool Obito acted like and a fool Obito felt for having such high expectations. "It's Kakashi, isn't it?" he asked. Rin let out a giggle, one that was not familiar to him. She often smiled and laughed, but it seemed different, this time. And even though Kakashi- the last person Obito wanted Rin to like because he would only break her heart- influenced it, it refreshed his mood. "Does he really make you that happy?"

"Yeah…" He saw her face redden from the corner of his eye, but pretended that he had not noticed.

_Should've guessed… She worships the ground that idiot walks on._

"I used to know this guy… He really liked his friend- she was a girl, of course-" Another soft giggle. "-and every day he felt as if he was getting closer to her because they got on well, y'know. But there were times where he feels as if no matter how hard he tried (and it paid off, sometimes, when she laughed at his jokes and would call him her 'friend') it was always gonna be the same; she'd only look at him as a _friend_.

"One day, he told me that he had realised something. No matter how low his chances were with her, he would rather enjoy the time he has with her now than worry about what he wanted and expected from the future." Obito plucked up the courage to turn and face Rin. "It's just like you and Kakashi. Instead of wanting him to be more than a friend, enjoy what you have with him, now- even though he'll only be a jerk and pretend that he doesn't have friends, when he does. One day, you'll get there."

Rin began to chew on her bottom lip, a habit that told Obito that she was either concentrating or doubtful and he knew that it was the latter. "I don't know… Right now, it feels like I'm only a burden..."

"I can't believe you actually listen to the crap that comes out of that guy's mouth," he half-joked. "Kakashi never expresses his feelings to anyone, not even to himself. Rin… If you really like him then value the time that you spend with him. And if he's worth waiting for, then a lifetime will go by quickly."

Rin quickly covered another blush by nudging him, playfully. "Oh? Where did all this come from?"

He agreed. Where _did _it all come from? Uchiha Obito? Talking _romantic_? He knew that if Kakashi or his sensei ever found out, he would not hear the end of it. "Uh… I told you. My friend."

"You know, if you talked sense like this all the time, then you and Kakashi will get on."

Obito laughed, pretending that what she said did not hurt him, a little. "The day that I get on with that guy is the day he admits that I'm a better ninja than him, and we _all _know that he thinks that he's the best."

The two of them laughed for a while before returning to a tranquil state. "I was thinking... Once the mission's over and we go back to the village, I want to train to become a medic-nin..."

"That's great, Rin! You'll be the best person for the job!"

She thanked him with a small grin. "After today, I don't think I can bear the thought to _kill at will_. I want to help in the battlefield, I really do. It's just..." she ran her fingers through her sticky hair- tainted by the events, beforehand, as a reminder of the things she wished not to see again. "It's just that I want to do it in my own way, y'know. I want to use my strength to _really _help others."

It was times like these that reassured Obito that liking Rin was worth all the hassle and time. "You'll make a brilliant medic-nin, Rin. I promise. Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if you became even better than Tsunade-sama! Unless she decides to kill off all competition..." Obito paused for a short moment- dim remarks were making their way in to conversation, again. "You'll be the best, trust me on that. I've never met somebody more determined than you." They both knew that this excluded Kakashi, of course.

"Thanks," she whispered. "For everything."

"Yeah… You, too."

She stared at him, slightly puzzled. "For what?"

Obito shrugged his shoulders and got off from the boulder, hinting that it was time to head back to camp. "Just."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
